Choices
by Tavin
Summary: Jaune Arc is a Huntsman-in-training at Beacon Academy, but he did not get there through legitimate means. This was his dream, but he had to make some morally questionable choices to make it. Now those choices are catching up to him. With no one by his side and judgement upon him, he is left with just a few options. Now he just has to choose. (Crappy summary, story is better.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, this is my first story and I don't have a lot of experience writing this kind of stuff, but more on that later. Tell me what you guys think.** **Also if I do anything on here that I shouldn't like guideline wise or something could you guys tell me. I read through them but I wanna be sure.** **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or anything else I reference in this story.**

In a small room in the council building of Vale sat a blonde youth. He was dressed in a black suit and shoes, wearing a somber look on his face.

Outside this room a short distance away his fate was being decided, and all he could do was wait. What was worse was the fact that he was alone. He had always wondered when/if the truth would come out, what he would do, what he would say. He could've thought of a thousand scenarios for how it would happen, and how it would all play out. But not one of those scenarios would've come close to how it really was. Maybe if he had factored in the people he would meet, and the relationships he would make, he would have come close, but it was because of those relationships that he had thought it would be different.

It wasn't.

He almost wanted to laugh. All it took was three weeks for him to reach rock bottom. His friends had abandoned him, he was labeled a disappointment by his family, and worse, the one person he had thought would stick by his side was nowhere to be seen.

But still, he couldn't understand it. He had already faced the threat of being discovered. His past bully and tormentor had overheard a conversation between him and his partner and had nearly exposed him, but he had come out of the situation for the better. His secret was safe and he had come out of it better, more willing to accept his faults and weaknesses. He was also more willing to push away his pride and accept help.

He thought that he was past it, that he could move on to the next part of his life as a Huntsman. He realized how foolish that thought was. Something like this would never have just disappeared; it was always going to be right behind him. Waiting for the chance to get him. When he was comfortable, when he thought he was safe, when he was content. It was the perfect moment really. He never saw it com-

"Jaune Arc".

He was pulled out of his thoughts by voice of a gruff vale police man, or was it bailiff? He wasn't sure, but that wasn't important at that moment. He turned his head to look at man standing at the door to the room.

"Yes" he replied.

"Please come with me, the council has come to a verdict."

And the time had come. He stood and nervously smoothed out his pants. He walked out of the room and started following the man as they made their way towards the council room. As they walked down the hallway to the council room Jaune could feel the dread pool in his stomach, he felt like a man walking towards his execution. ' _I very well could be', he_ thought . The sweat was building on his brow and he made to wipe it away.

He noticed the (policeman?) stop in front of the doors to the council room and stopped as well. He opened the door and stepped aside, waiting for Jaune to step through.

' _Well I guess this is it'._ And with that thought he stepped through the door.

 **So that is my story so far. I know it's not much but like I said, first story. If any of you would like to see more there are some things you should keep in mind. 1, this is the first thing I've written since high school and the first piece of creative writing since my freshman or sophomore year. 2, I have almost zero experience writing dialogue and I'm pretty sure that is important in this kind of story. 3, it's took me about two hours to write this and like a month to upload it. Now, I'm not bad at writing, I could half ass an English paper and still get an A, but like I said it's been a while.**

 **Yeah so please tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back**. **For those of you who don't remember me, which I imagine is most of you, I'm the guy who posted the first chapter of his first story on FF and didn't post anything else for months. What's worse is that some of you actually followed this. And I, and probably many of you, know what it's like to find a story that you're kinda interested in and the author doesn't update the story in forever and your like f*** that guy, where's the next chapter. While my story isn't that interesting yet, or maybe ever, I literally have like 500 stories that I'm following that haven't been updated in months or years and might never be updated again. So I know how annoying that is. And while many of those authors might have good reasons, I do not. So this is me getting back into things. I've also been getting a ton of stories ideas, for this and some other stuff, more on that at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Sunlight streamed through the window of the dorm room, illuminating the space and its inhabitants. The room held four beds and drawers, but was sparsely decorated with anything else. Two of the beds were put up against the wall on either side of the rooms only window, and the other two beds were on the opposite walls at the foot of the other two beds.

On one of these beds slept a young man, or at least tried to sleep. The sunlight hitting his face made the task a bit difficult. ' _Would someone turn off that damn light'_ he thought tiredly. After last night's training he felt exhausted, now morning was here and he was dreading the day to come.

As he tried to bury himself further into his pillow he felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him.

"Jaune, wake up, Jaune", came a soft voice from above him. He just grumbled and covered his face with his blanket. The hand shook him harder and he uncovered his face.

"Pyrrha, don't do this. Please. If I don't get some sleep I'll die. Do you want that on your conscious?", he pleaded. His red haired partner just rolled her eyes, grabbed his shirt and tugged. This was much easier now that he had transitioned to a normal shirt and pajama pants for sleep wear instead of the blue onesie he had arrived to beacon with. "Please, if you loved me you'd let me sleep," he whined unaware of the blush forming on his partner's face from that comment.

She fought down the blush and grabbed the back of his pants as well. She pulled and hoisted him into the air above her head; secretly pleased with the feel of his behind on her palm.

"Sorry Jaune, consider this tough love."

Now fully awake and confused about his sudden increase in elevation, he looked around himself. He saw his other two teammates looking at them with amused expressions. Ren the resident ninja and cook of the team was sitting his bed dressed and ready for class. On the bed next to his and behind Jaune's bed was Nora. She was laying on her bed ,also dressed, and was simultaneously giggling at the scene in front of her and drinking from what looked to be a jar of maple syrup.

Knowing he'd lost, he stopped struggling and asked to be let down. Once he was on the floor he gathered his things and headed to bathroom. "Alright guys, be out in a few minutes," he looked at Pyrrha, "traitor". She just smiled and gestured for him to move along. He turned around and grumbled into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

He left his this things on the counter and turned on the shower, letting the water heat up while he was getting undressed. He stepped into the shower and let himself relax under the hot stream.

With a few minutes alone, and in a relaxing shower, he began to think back and marvel at all the things that had happened the last few weeks. There was the breach, and the role he had in helping to control the situation. He hadn't done anything too important, but he had managed to hold his own and hadn't needed anyone to come save him. In the end the combined efforts of teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY had kept things in control until the Atlassian military had arrived.

But the thing that had stood out the most was the dance. He smiled thinking back on it. He thought about his failed attempts to ask Weiss, of team RWBY, out. The constant rejections had left him out of sorts and hadn't gone unnoticed by his partner. After one of their training sessions she had asked him what was bothering him.

He sighed and couldn't help but feel like a bit of a ass for the way he had behaved when she had just been trying to be nice.

He had told her of his feelings for Weiss and how he couldn't seem to get her attention. Pyrrha had attempted to make him feel better, telling him that there were more "fish in the sea", although he couldn't help but feel it was maybe more than just her trying to comfort him.

But that was a whole other issue for another time, maybe after the shower?

He had answered back saying that it was easy for her to say that, that she probably had guys fighting each other for the chance to ask her out. Although the reality was much different than what he had thought at the time. She replied that he would be surprised, and in true Jaune Arc fashion he had sarcastically dismissed it and had even offered to wear a dress if she didn't get a date.

And despite acting like a jerk, later when he had needed advice on how to approach Weiss, she had helped him then too. It still astounded him how she had put up with him. He had acted, in his opinion, pretty shitty. He guessed that that was just one of the many great things about Pyrrha Nikos.

But it was for naught. When he had finally gathered the courage to ask her, he was just in time to see her ask Neptune. He didn't stay to hear the answer, already sure what it would be.

When the dance had finally come he was surprised to learn that Neptune had turned down Weiss. At first he couldn't believe it. Why would anyone turn down someone as amazing as Weiss. When he was about to go give Neptune a piece of his mind, he spotted Pyrrha. She'd been wearing a long red sleeveless dress, and looked, in his opinion, beautiful. In that moment Neptune had been forgotten. He needed to go talk to her.

He had found her at the top of the stairs on the balcony. He had greeted her and complimented, her hoping that her date wouldn't take offense. That was when she had told him that no one had asked her. To say that he was shocked was an understatement. How could nobody have asked her. She was Pyrrha Nikos, why wouldn't somebody ask someone as amazing as her. It hadn't made any sense to him until she had explained to him how her fame had affected her life. It was obvious after she explained, and it made him realize how much of a jerk he was during their training session. She also explained how she just wanted someone that saw her for the person she was and not the idol that she had become.

Someone like him.

After she had left and having a "heart to heart" with Neptune, he went and did the only thing that he knew would fix things. Sacrificing his dignity and putting on that dress. It was all worth it though, to see the smile on her face and hear her laugh. In those moments he had seen something different about her. She wasn't just his partner or teammate. She was this beautiful girl, and he realized how much he loved to see her laugh and smile. Not the polite smile that she gave people when they gave some compliment or praise, or the smile of contentment she has on normal days. No, this was smile that showed pure happiness and joy.

In the days following the dance he been been confused, unsure about the new way he saw his partner and what it mea-

"JAUNE. Hurry up, we're going to be late for breakfast", came a shout from outside the door. "If you need to jerk off jerk faste-"

"NORA!"

He heard a giggle before she replied,"Coming Ren."

He flushed embarrassed at her accusation. He rushed through the rest of the shower and dressed himself. He stepped out of the bathroom to find Pyrrha sitting on her bed flipping through one of her text books. Ren and Nora were nowhere to be found. He looked over to Pyrrha who seemed to be avoiding his gaze.

"Hey Pyrrha" he asked, getting her attention, "where are Ren and Nora?"

She looked at him, a slight red tint to her cheeks. "They went ahead of us to get breakfast." She kept looking away from him and he couldn't help but worry. "I decided to wait here for you."

"Um, thanks Pyrrha," he said. ' _Does she really think I was… doing that?'_ he thought. "Hey Pyrrha, just so you know, I wasn't doing anything weird in the shower."

After saying that he realized it just sounded like a bad lie and regretted having had spoken at all.

"Oh no, Jaune, I didn't think that at all!" she blurted out quickly.

" _Terrible lies all around, huh,"_ he thought.

Raising her head to look at him, she stared for a few seconds before the thoughts started to rush through her mind. She flushed again and Jaune sighed. "You know what, let's just forget this ever happened and head down to the dining hall. Agreed?"

She nodded her head and they both stood and walked to the door. He let her go first and then they started their walk towards the dining hall. After a few minutes of awkward silence, he was glad when they finally reached their destination. ' _At least that's over,'_ he thought.

After having grabbed their food, they headed over to their usual table with the rest of team JNPR and team RWBY. Noticing the weird stares he was getting from Weiss and Blake, the snickers from Yang, and blush on Ruby's face, one thought occurred to him.

Nora.

Of course she would have blabbed. He looked over to Ren and Nora, shooting a glare at the latter. Ren gave him an apologetic look and Nora was whistling and feigning innocence. For what felt like the hundredth time today he sighed and steeled himself for what was to come. He sat down next Pyrrha and started on his food, some eggs, a few strips of bacon, and some waffles. It was actually quiet for a once at their table.

About half way through the meal Ruby spoke up and asked," So, what are you guys gonna be doing this weekend?"

Jaune took a moment to think about it. He didn't really have anything planned; he expected it to be like most weekends, training and hanging out in the dorm. "Um, I don't have anything planned. You guys?', he asked. The rest of his team shook their heads. He looked to the rest of team RWBY. Blake, who was looking at her scroll, shook her head no. Yang just gave a "nope". Weiss thought for a second then also said no.

Ruby smiled and stood, raising her foot onto the table, ignoring Weiss' disapproving glare, cleared her throat and declared,"Well then, as team leader I declare we shall go to Vale and-"

"Hey Ruby," Jaune interrupted, "I was actually thinking of using this weekend to relax. The Vytal festival is coming up soon and I probably won't be getting too many chances to rest and relax, so I'm using this weekend to sleep and catch up on studying." And it was true, Pyrrha had upped his training regimen after the breach and it was a nightmare. He was grateful for the help of course, but it was wearing him down. The only reason that he wasn't dead on his feet (or seat in this case) was because they couldn't go as hard as usual during the week. The weekend before he had begged her for a break, and after about half an hour of begging and promises of taking her out to a cake shop in downtown vale did she finally relent. But it was only for a weekend, this weekend to be precise. With the lethargy and embarrassing moments of the morning he had nearly forgotten.

"But, it was a leader's order," she said slightly deflated. She had wide eyes and a quivering lip, classic puppy dog eyes, but it wasn't going to work. Her eyes started to glisten with what he was sure were crocodile tears. But he was prepared.

"Sorry Rubes, but you're not my team leader. I'm actually my own team's leader if you hadn't noticed," he replied, steeling his nerves and powering his will. He had seven sisters of his own, life had prepared him for this moment.

"But we were going to do team bonding," she said, her eyes going even wider, almost impossibly so. At this point everyone at their table was watching the exchange, waiting, watching for who would break first. If they were expecting him to give in, they would be sorely disappointed.

' _Sorry to disappoint you Ruby, I'm gonna have to say-' "_ Fine." ' _Damn it! What happened; I have seven sisters, I should be immune to this. I-'_ Who was he kidding. He had may have been resistant to his older sisters, but he still couldn't hold up against his youngest sister, Violet. The hundred box top incident should have been proof enough.

By now Ruby had sprung up and began talking plans with Weiss, all traces of tears and sadness gone. He hung his head in shame, wallowing in his defeat. Pyrrha put a comforting hand on his shoulder and he received sympathetic glances from Ren and Yang, both more used being on the receiving end of such looks. The only good thing was that no one had mentioned-

"Wow, vomit boy. Caught masturbating in the shower and losing to the puppy dog stare, all in one morning. Tough break." And there went Yang, making this morning even worse.

He glared at her, "Yang I wasn't masturb-" he stopped and lowered his voice,"I wasn't masturbating." He had tried to keep his cool, but he was failing and the blush was becoming very prominent on his face. She just layed her head on her hand and gave him a lazy smirk.

"Then why, my dear vomit boy, did you need to take a thirty minute shower?" she asked, the smirk growing. It did not look good for him at the moment. ' _Was it really that long?'_ he asked himself. What could he say, what could he do? His only thought at the moment was to explain himself and hope they would believe him.

"If you must know, I was thinking and zoned out." Yang gave him an unimpressed look, thinking that if he was going to try to lie then he could of tried to come up with something more convincing. Even his teammates did not look even the slightest bit convinced. "I'm serious."

"What could you have been thinking about for that long, really?" He was taking the honesty route anyway, so he thought might as well go all the way.

"Well, I was thinking about how much has happened since we started school. There was the stuff I went through with Cardin. All the things that happened before and during the dance; it's not every day I throw my dignity out the window, you know. Do you even know how hard it was to find a dress that late? The breach is also on the list of crazy things that happened. That's also why I didn't want to go anywhere this weekend. Every time you guys go into town you're either stopping some criminals, getting into fights with the White Fang, or get caught in the middle of a Grimm invasion. Besides that, I've also just been thinking about how much better I'm getting. I'm not amazing or anything yet, but I fought at the breach and I held my 's an accomplishment to me, at least."

As Jaune had been talking, the others had stopped what they were they doing and listened. As they listened they couldn't help but agree with most if not all of his points; they all, even if some didn't show it, agreed that a lot had happened and that Jaune had indeed started to develop as a fighter.

Yang had to admit that what he said made sense, and she herself had spent time thinking of all that has happened since coming to Beacon. Although she thought the statement about them always finding trouble when they go to town debatable. " Alright Jaune, you made some good points," she conceded," but we don't always do that when we go to town, right?" She looked too her teammates for confirmation. They all took time to think that over, while it was true that their time in town had been… eventful the last few weeks, it wasn't a regular occurrence, it was an exaggeration to say it happened every time they went to town. "See Jaune, we can be boring, that's why we have Weiss on our team,"

"Hey!"

"Yeah Jaune, this will be a good thing," Ruby said,"a last bit of fun with friends before the tournament starts." And it was, he realized. Things were relatively quiet right now, but with the coming tournament they would all have their own preparations they would need to get to.

"I guess you're right, but we should probably finish up and head to class." With that hurried to finish their meals and got their trays put away.

Once they were done, they headed towards their first class of the day with Professor Port. As they walked, Ren and Nora were ahead of the group, with the former listening to the latter tell of a dream she had the night before concerning Death Stalkers, syrup of dubious origin and rugs. Behind them Jaune and Pyrrha talked about classes and whether to increase his new training regimen. After them Yang was talking to Ruby and Weiss, and using unnecessary, poorly executed, puns. Lastly was Blake, reading news articles on her scroll.

Tired of hearing Ruby and Weiss complain about her jokes, Yang looked to her partner for support. "You get me, right Blake?" Yang asked. Receiving no answer she asked again,"Blake?" She turned to look back at the faunus girl, only to see her stopped back a few yards staring at her scroll, eyes wide.

The others had stopped to see what had kept their friends behind. Blake was still staring at her scroll and Yang had walked back to see what had her partner so shocked.

"What's wrong Blake, they finally make that book of yours into a movie or… something…" she trailed off as she read the headline of an article displayed on the screen. She looked surprised at first, then her expression changed to confusion. She settled at quiet and continued reading what she could see of the article.

Everyone else had reached them, sharing worried glances between each other. They all wondered what it was that had both Yang and Blake quiet like that. It wasn't unusual for Blake to be silent, but whatever it was had stopped Yang mid joke and _that_ was unusual.

"What is it?", Ruby asked, a mix of curiosity and worry in her voice. It was quiet for a few more moments before anyone spoke.

"Beacon student under investigation by Vale Council", came the reply from Yang. Everyone's eyes widened upon hearing this. No one made a sound, all waiting to hear what else there was to say. Yang raised her eyes and looked up, her eyes meeting Jaune's before continuing. "Jaune Arc, student and Huntsmen-in-training at Beacon Academy, has come under investigation by the Vale Council for suspicions of application fraud."

 **So this is what I've got for this chapter. To me this just seems like 3,000 words of nothing and a cliff hanger, but I'm trying to start slow and build up to the real stuff. You know, first story and all. But I know I'm going to be writing more, because I have gotten a few( in my opinion) good story ideas. I've got a Titanfall AU, a Final fantasy-ish AU, and a few other things. Wait, or is it just AU elements in the story? Shit I don't know. Anyway, comment and please call me on my shit, helps the story.**


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